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Just the Facts

Risky Recipe The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service is hoping to convince ranchers to feed their cows more poultry manure and litter. (Just add a bit of grain and vitamin A, they say.) The growth of Georgia’s poultry industry has produced such large quantities of this waste material that the service has dubbed it the “$50 Million Dollar Forgotten Crop.” Source: The University of Georgia–Georgia College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences Cooperative Extension Service, July 2004

Lab Vets: Desperately Seeking Career Counselor
Lab-animal veterinarian is the third-worst-possible job in science, says a new report in Popular Science. The magazine described the position as “disillusioning,” “heart-breaking,” and as “career-track bait-and-switch.” Many students choose veterinary medicine because they care about animals, the writers say, but then end up having to subject them to painful experiments, ending in death. Source: “The Worst Jobs in Science: The Sequel,” Popular Science, November 2004

Hold the Formaldehyde, Please
A scientific advisory committee for the European Union has recommended allowing producers to start using formaldehyde as a fattening agent for chickens. Formaldehyde has been long suspected of causing cancer in humans. Source: Just.Food.com, October 14, 2004

Cell Phones Safe for Mice
Men hoping to become parents might want to pay attention to a new study of mobile phone use in humans showing that mobile phone use can cut a man’s fertility by one-third. Mouse and rat studies, conducted for no convincing scientific reason, showed no effect.Source: “Beyond Animal Research,” July 2004

Therapeutic Junk FoodIn a recent New York Times story on the growing concern over fast-food venues in hospitals, Ken Barun, a senior vice-president for McDonald’s, claimed Happy Meals are actually good for sick kids. “From the emotional side, it really does help them get better,” he says.
Source: “Burgers for the Health Professional,” The New York Times, October 27, 2004

Just What Kids Don’t Need
Hershey Foods Corporation proudly introduced its New Hershey’s Fortified Syrup last fall as the “first-ever chocolate syrup fortified with vitamins and nutrients that can help moms increase their child’s daily nutrient intake.” Source: Company news release; September 7, 2004

Smoking Still a Leading Cause of Statistics
Despite years of human data proving that cigarette smoking is deadly, experimenters at the University of California, Davis are subjecting mice to five months in a whole-body inhalation chamber to assess three levels of smoke exposure on lung tumors.Source: “Beyond Animal Research,” August 2004; www.pcrm.org

The Vegan Generation
One in five teenagers may show signs of heart disease, but hope is on the way. According to a recent survey of more than 100,000 college students, nearly a quarter say that finding vegan meals on campus is important to them. And college kids may be smarter than we think. Only 18 percent care about low-carb meals.Source: ARAMARK news release, October 19, 2004

Stating the Obvious
Cruel and, unfortunately, not unusual would be the words to describe a new study conducted at the University of Pittsburgh and the Oregon Health & Science University’s Primate Research Center. Experimenters separated baby monkeys from their mothers at different points in their development, including during their first weeks of life. The study found that the earlier the infants are removed from their mothers, the worse their adjustment. Source: OHSU news release, October 24, 2004